EPA plans to end greenhouse gas emissions reporting program
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed eliminating its Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program, which requires large emitters to report emissions data. This move, part of broader rollbacks under the Trump administration, raises concerns about tracking national emissions and forming climate policy. Climate experts and NGOs warn that while alternatives exist, they cannot fully replace the federal system's role.
The Environmental Protection Agency announced in September 2025 a proposed rule to end the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP), which has collected data on carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases from major sources like power plants, oil and gas refineries, and chemical facilities for the past 15 years. The program sets reporting thresholds for emitters and serves as the backbone of the U.S. air quality reporting system, according to Kevin Gurney, a professor of atmospheric science at Northern Arizona University.
This follows the Trump administration's March 2025 decision to reconsider the GHGRP entirely. The agency claims the rollback will save $2.4 billion in regulatory costs, describing the program as "bureaucratic red tape that does nothing to improve air quality." However, former EPA assistant administrator Joseph Goffman argues that shutting it down hamstrings the government's capacity to formulate climate policy, making it "extremely hard" to assess emissions-reduction technologies or industry progress without the data.
The GHGRP data, publicly available, underpins federal, state, local, and international climate strategies, including obligations under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which supports the Paris Agreement. The U.S. exited the Paris Agreement on the first day of Trump's second term but remains in the UNFCCC.
Nongovernmental organizations may help fill the gap. Climate TRACE, a coalition founded in 2019 with a Google donation and now involving over 100 organizations, uses AI models paired with satellite and other data to track global emissions. Cofounder Gavin McCormick notes the irony: "We started this project on the thesis that America has the world’s best emissions monitoring, and other countries could reduce emissions faster if they got up to the same quality as America."
Industry groups also show interest in continuing reporting for markets like Europe, which imposes strict methane rules on imports. The Rocky Mountain Institute, part of Climate TRACE, tracks oil and gas emissions using private data, capturing some sources missed by GHGRP.
Experts emphasize challenges: states might collect data, but lacking a central federal warehouse for standardization is a major hurdle, Gurney says. NGOs cannot legally require reporting, Goffman adds, and legal barriers, like Louisiana's restrictions on non-EPA monitoring tools, complicate use of alternative data. McCormick highlights that viability depends on both science and legal permissions.